STC chief hopes walk along Circle Drive sparks change
Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) Chief Mark Arcand is walking the entirety of Circle Drive to raise awareness and encourage government, local businesses and organizations to incorporate Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action.
Arcand started walking at the Sutherland entrance to Circle Drive Monday morning. He said he chose the 30-kilometre route because of the high visibility and the opportunity for the public to see the importance of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) calls to action and residential schools.
“Those calls to action were made for a reason and that is so residential school survivors to tell their stories about what happened to them,” Arcand told CTV News.
He hopes the walk results in the those calls to action being implemented by all levels of government and making a difference in the lives of Indigenous people.
He started thinking about mobilizing the walk after the discovery of 215 bodies at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
“Here at home lot of our residential school survivors were affected and they were triggered. I sat back for a week to 10 days and waited for things to unfold and talked to residential school survivors here and got input.”
120 people started with Arcand with others joining along the route which was escorted by members from the Saskatoon Police Service.
Representatives from different companies and organizations joined the walk including Nurtrien, Mayor Charlie Clark, University of Saskatchewan President Peter Stoicheff, trustees from Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, according to Arcand.
Last week Arcand held a media conference where the STC called on the City of Saskatoon to have John A. MacDonald's name removed from a city street. He suggested Reconciliation Road as a new name.
“I heard it was supposed to go to a city planning committee on June 21 which is a really positive step. It just creates discussion and there’s no disrespect to people on that street. It’s about understanding and there are name changes all the time in different cities,” Arcand said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.